Paris in 2 and a 1/2 hours

Missed my connecting flight due to an airtraffic delay in Madrid. So I was stuck in Paris for a night. Since the hotel was closer (but still very far) to the airport than the city and it took me around 1 and a 1/2 hours to reach the city, we will start our tour 'Paris in 2 and a 1/2 hours' directly in the city.

19:00 I got out of the RER at Saint Michel/Notre Dame and went straight to the Cathedral.

Sunday mass was being held inside. Since I'm totally ignorant of its historic importance I'll refrain from making any comments about its impact (on no) on me.

Leaving the Notre Dame, we cross the street and make our way towards the Musee du Louvre. We stop at a couple of souvenir shops to buy my sister a postcard of Paris and a bookmark of 'Le Ciel Etoile' (since she's learning French and since she likes this particular painting very much). We also buy a bookmark of 'Tournesol' for a friend in Valladolid (he likes this painting).

The streets are like the streets of Madrid, small, criss-crossed, lined up trees.

...

Walking along the banks of the Seine is a pleasure. I would have preferred having company, though. There are lots of ferrys on the Seine. Lots of tourists.

Along the Seine, there are many small shops selling paintings, post cards, old black and white pictures, old comics and books and other 'interesting' stuff like this.



Across the Seine as we reach the Place du Chatelet we can get a glimpse of the Tour Eiffel, our final destination on this tour.



We continue on our way and yes, we reach the Musee du Louvre. Sadly it's better know now due to the Da Vinci Code!



And right across is the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel that opens out to the Jardin des Tuileries. One can also faintly see the Obelisque and the Arc de Triomphe at the back.



20:30 Oh my God! It's late and we still haven't seen the Tour Eiffel! We take a last glimpse of the Louvre as we hurry across de Pont du Carrousel in direction to the Musee D'Orsay.



At the Musee D'orsay, since we are dead tired and lack time, we decide to take the RER till Champs de Mars/Tour Eiffel.

..................

We reach in about 10 minutes and as we walk towards the Tour Eiffel it appears to us little by little. Voila!

There it stands on one end of the Parc du Champ de Mars.



We sit down to take a breath and feel like we're in India. Yes, the number of Indian tourists here is incredible. Finally after speaking to a Chilean couple and not buying 330ml of water at an exorbitant price of 2,50 euros(!!!) we walk back to the RER station and head back to the hotel.

It's 21:30 already. Paris needs more time but this is what we could (barely) manage in 2 and a 1/2 hours.

I enjoyed it. Did you?

the long-promised photo

the final countdown

27th June, 2006

28th June, 2006

29th June, 2006

x

30th June, 2006

x

1st July, 2006

x

It´s the 2nd of July, 2006... Yippee!

i´m writing this entry after reading what a friend of mine has written.

i typed Vidyaranya (my school) and LFJC (my junior college) on google and it took me here. Here are some excerpts (and my comments in brackets). Of course, i am biased. Who isn´t?

Vidyaranya
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absence of uniform

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the value system of our children

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exams are not conducted until the students reach class eight

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emphasis on learning rather than on clearing exams

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student-teacher ratio ranges between 18:1 and 25:1

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atmosphere of celebration

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classrooms are large and spacious, with colorful charts and cutouts

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Craft, clay-modeling, singing, gymnastics and pottery classes

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basketball and football

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each child is unique and different

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no ranking system

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freedom is the key word

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explore and understand their world

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But one does wonder how they'll fit into the world once they pass out of school. (This is an often asked question. The answer: we´re here in this world with the rest, we don´t live in ghettos...we´ve fitted in.)

Little Flower Junior College

For aspiring engineers and doctors and even commerce wannabes in the city

primarily known for brilliant academic results

state ranks in Intermediate and EAMCET are a way of life

life at LFJC is mostly about academics and hard work

"temple of knowledge" ( if that is what they consider knowledge they are sadly mistaken)

Each class usually has around seventy students (please compare with Vidyaranya)

The creativity extends, though only in a fleeting way, to literary and artistic areas, too. There are a few popular intra-college cultural events in the course of the year (and the rest of the time the students are forced to slog)

And after the college chose to be co-ed, there is a lot more intra-student interaction than in the earlier days! ( ha ha ha! co-ed, cojones! i was reprimanded for having spoken to the boys in the class, the p.t sir´s only job was to keep an eye on the students and always separate the boys from the girls)

the best junior college in town for all the career-oriented (exactly! not suitable for those who want a life.)

tears

a show for us

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Today, we participated in a radio show here in Alcalá de Henares.

Cadena Ser invited us to speak about our experiences in Spain and about stereotypes of our countries here and of Spain abroad.

It was great fun. We laughed so much. and of course, we realized that we have so much in common.

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Host:

Sergio, Spain

Participants:

Nicole, Guatemala

Sikitu, Congo

Tania, Mexico

Sio, Greece

Giacomo, Italy

María, Spain

Miguel, Spain

and

me, India.

Estatuas vivientes

Last weekend the municipality of Alcalá organized 'Living Statues' in the Calle Mayor.These 'statues' were standing in different parts of the street and like with bubble gum machines, if you drop a coin in their box, they do something like sing, dance, say crazy things, jump about.

asdbkasdbjkabjks

As you can imagine the kids enjoyed it loads.

asdhasbdjkabsfjk

This sea fairy gave the kids magic shells.

asdbgaklsjdoñash

This guy was 'Shoe Majer' as opposed to Fernando Alonso. See the unopened champagne bottle on the right and on the left a hat for donations for a new car.

These two had intellectual conversations... just like Don Quijote and Sancho.

This maiden drew your portrait... a stick figure portrait.

And then there were more...

preponed

(big grin)


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to tattoo not to tattoo to tattoo not to tattoo to tattoo not to tattoo to tattoo
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to tattoo not to tattoo to tattoo not to tattoo to tattoo not to tattoo to tattoo
to tattoo not to tattoo to tattoo not to tattoo to tattoo not to tattoo to tattoo
to tattoo not to tattoo to tattoo not to tattoo to tattoo not to tattoo to tattoo
to tattoo not to tattoo to tattoo not to tattoo to tattoo not to tattoo to tattoo
to tattoo not to tattoo to tattoo not to tattoo to tattoo to tattoo and tattoed

(still grining)

back from granada. and need i even say how amazing it was?

the first two days there was a glorious sunshine (34ºC), reminded me of india. but the next two days the weather played foul. it rained. on wednesday there was a steady rain from morning till night and our luck, we had tickets to the Alhambra that day! on the bright side, how many people can boast of having seen the Alhambra in rain?

also visited García Lorca´s summer house, the many teterías (tea shops), the barrio Albaicín...

here are some of the photos, it was really hard to select just a few:

p.s by the way, for the first time in my life i missed a bus, the bus back to madrid, and had to take the next one! nice experience, don´t regret it.










The Sierra Nevada
















The river Darro













View of the Alhambra from Carrera del Darro

On the way to the Alhambra

View from the Alhambra















Generalife en la Alhambra

















Patio de los leones

Cobbled streets of Albaícin

Calderería nueva.
Doesn´t it look like S.N market?














Una casa en Albaícin

García Lorca´s summer residence between 1926 and 1936. He wrote some of his most important works here (Thus Five Years Pass(1931), Blood wedding(1932), Yerma (1934)).

semana santa

didn´t make it to sevilla nor valladoilid nor elsewhere for semana santa (easter). had to be content with the celebrations here in alcalá. the atmosphere was really depressing. here are the photos (sorry, salieron movidas):

appointment

date: 13th of may, 2006
hour: 13:00
venue: tattoo parlour in Madrid

requirements: lots of courage and determination

results: awaited

trips!

next week we have an entire week of study hols, so i´ll be going to granada. just for three days but well, something is better than nothing!

have been thinking loads. as in, reflecting! and getting philosophical and stuff. but just too tired to pen down everything. es demasiado pesado.

will post later if i´m in a mood.

si os apetece leer un cuento sobre mi primer día en españa pichad AQUÍ:

Tattoo, or not to tattoo: that is the question...

indian lunch

on saturday, 8th of april, 2006 i prepared an indian lunch (rice, chole, dal, potato sabzi, tandoori roti, raita and paayasam) for 14 people. i consider it an achievement. two of my friends (shawna and viviana) helped me. otherwise i wouldn´t have managed it.

it was good fun but at the end of the day i was dead tired. i was actually falling asleep sitting (don´t know if it was because of the bottle of apple licor i finished).

here are some photos... it´s a pity you can´t hear the indian songs in the background:


asashagh asasas asqwyhvdbj

Thank you very much!

no title fits

this has been my worst week ever.

it all started on sunday when by chance i was near the football stadium in madrid, santa bernabeu (guess it´s the real madrid stadium). the match got over and these huge crowds came out. i was on my way to the metro station and i entered a street full of people. only later did i realize it was full of white people. i was with a friend who by chance has black skin. and all these 100´s of people, believe me, it was a wide street full of people, and all these 100´s of people started booing us. not like the booing we do at a cricket match, not like the booing we did at school during volleyball matches. this booing was full of hatred and violence. full of negative feelings. i thought they are going to attack me. i thought i was going to die.

tried to stay as calm as possible. tried not to run and tried not to show them my anxiety and fear. got out of the street and got into the first bus to get out of there.

45 minutes later it hit me. and i cried uncontrollably.

my question wasn´t and isn´t "why me?". it´s "why at all?"

now, after around 5 days i´m better. i don´t want to hate them. i don´t think i do. i don´t understand how people can be like this. they´re ignorant.

i still carry it with me, now a little deeper in my heart.

i ran to a friend, a good friend, who was there for me. thank god i have good friends who i can depend on. thank god!

no, she didn´t understand me. but i know that unless you experience it yourself you won´t understand it, you won´t feel it. i hope you never have to feel it. i hope no one ever has to feel it.

no family here, no ranveer. was broken. just wanted to get onto the first flight out of here to india. but i know i have to go on. and i will.

spoken to soon... as usual

we´ve had rain the entire weekend which ofcourse has brought with it again the freezing cold!

why, oh, why?

spring´s here

man, you won´t believe how happy i am. no more jackets, no more sweaters, no more closed windows... yippee!
and overnight the trees blooming with flowers.


















these are photos outside the instituto cervantes. all over alcalá we have these trees. they´re damn pretty.

ha ha ha

good one

check it out

no offense...

More than moments of impression and awe, it´s moments of deception that define you and give an aim, a clearer meaning to your life... because they help you eliminate a few of the million choices that you have, making it that little bit easier for you to take a decision.

i have been deceived.

i should be happy... i am not.

i hope i will be in the future, when this becomes my past.

now i feel lighter. now i´m relieved

i´m having my practicals these days. and till yesterday the two classes i had given were pretty disastrous. ok, fine, i know i´m too hard on myself. they weren´t disastrous but they certainly weren´t satisfactory. but yesterday class was almost perfect. i was so happy that i wanted to blog this moment. we learnt alot of things together, we cracked a lot of jokes and basically lo pasamos muy bien.

i guess yesterday was a good day. i spoke to amma, appa, nive and ranveer so it couldn´t have gone any better.

and i saw a movie by Fernando León de Aranoa, Princesas. he´s the director of Los lunes al sol, a movie about unemployment. Princesas i sabout the life of two prostitutes and ofcourse as soon as i can i´ll buy it so that atleast when i´m back you can all see it. but if you get a chance please do watch it.

sad but true

a must read post

to which indian girl hasn´t this happened?
which indian girl hasn´t´t felt this way?

this is our world.